Can Retirees Transfer Post 9/11 GI Bill Benefits to Dependents Yet?

Q: Are there any laws in place right now for retirees to transfer their GI Bill benefits? It seems a little unfair how they did it, seems like they are betting on retirees not using it; I use mine but I wish that I could transfer mine to my son. It would take a-lot of pressure off retirees if they could, minus all the other stuff and just giving the education part would help a-lot.

A: I whole-hardheartedly agree with you and it does depend on when you retired. If it was after August 1, 2009, and you were either in the Army or Air Force, you can petition your branch Board of Military Discharge to review your case and make a decision as to whether they think you knew or not that you had to transfer Post 9/11 GI Bill benefits before you retired. If you can prove you did not know, then you might be allowed to make a transfer to your son. The Navy and Marine Corp are not adjudicating any cases at this time.

If you retired before August 1, 2009, then you are just out of luck as there is not any provision to allow a transfer of benefits for that group of retirees.

There had been a couple of legislation pieces in the past few years that if passed would have allowed for that, but not only did they not pass, they didn’t have enough support to even come up for a vote. Plus I have sent in a petition to the President of the United States and have talked to anyone that would listen on this subject, but at least so far, all efforts have fallen on deaf ears.

Also, keep in mind that your son only has up to age 26 to use transferred benefits, so they might not do him any good now even if he could get them.

It is unfair to the service members who were in the war from the onset in 2001 not to benefit from having the funds of Post 9/11 transferred to their dependents. If anything their should have been a cutoff of 2009 instead of beginning it in 2009. They got it backwards.

I couldn’t agree more, but the fact of the matter is there is not the support in Congress to make a change. Two previous pieces of legislation not only did not pass, neither one of them even came to a vote. I have even petitioned President Obama, but to no avail. So if you retired between December 10, 2001 and July 31, 2009, you might as well use your Post 9/11 GI bill beneits before they ex[pire as it doesn’t look like you will Be able to transfer them to your dependents.